JetHawks can't get it started

Lancaster's powerful offense couldn't get the big hit in what could be a preview of the play-offs...

By ED HARBOUR
Valley Press Staff Writer

Thursday night, Lancaster faced the Storm in the first game of a two-game series at Pete Lehr Field.

The JetHawks (47-21, 87-51) offense shut down early for the night, coming up with one run on one hit, as they lost late 2-1 before a crowd of 2,695.

In the bottom of the ninth, reliever Cody Morrison started the inning and gave up a leadoff double to Robb Quinlan off of the 36foot high wall in right field with the score tied 1-1.

Morrison (8-7) followed that with a walk to Bill Mott and was promptly pulled by manager Mark Parent in favor of Allan Simpson.

Simpson struck out the first batter he faced, Mike Christensen, but gave up an excuse-me single to Elpidio Guzman between third and short to bring in the winning run.

"I really thought Simpson would come in and strike out the side," Parent said. "It just didn't work out that way."

The JetHawks matched their low-hit total for the year Thursday as the offense was stifled by Storm starter Jeff Hundley for eight innings.

Cal League All-Star Mario Ramos one-hit the JetHawks earlier this year for Modesto.

In the fourth, shortstop Antonio Perez led off the inning with a single to left. Second baseman Robert Gandolfo followed with a fly ball to left that Marcus Knight mishandled, allowing Gandolfo to reach second and Perez all the way to third.

Two batters later, Juan Silvestre brought Perez in with a long fly ball to center field.

After that, the JetHawks reached base three other times, on a walk to Freddie May in the fifth, Wilfredo Quintana was hit by a pitch in the eighth and Gandolfo reached by error again, this time in the ninth on a throwing error by shortstop Brian Specht.

"We didn't put the ball in play tonight when we had guys in scoring position," Parent said, "that's the bottom line.

"We managed to put some guys in scoring position without hitting worth (anything) and once we did we went back to not hitting worth (anything).

Starter Chris Mears did his job, limiting Lake Elsinore to one run on three hits, leaving with the game tied at 1-1 after eight innings.

"He threw down tonight," pitching coach Scott Budner said. "He got some more ground balls than (usual) and had better location on his fastball and slider and mixed them up very well."

"He did a nice job with the adjustments. He stayed focused and looked more comfortable and more relaxed right from the get go.

"It's been a see-saw year for him and when he gets up in the zone . . . he's a sinkerball guy and needs to stay down."

But even with the solid performance from Mears, the offense refused to show up in his support.

"It's like all of a sudden we're trying to hit nine-run homers," Parent said after the game. "We've been successful when we just put the ball in play and we didn't do that tonight."

Converted catcher Jaime Escalante (1-1) earned his first win of the year in relief of Hundley, pitching a scoreless ninth.

Uploaded September 1, 2000